Alleged Fraud: Supreme Court Rejects Metuh’s Appeal

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, should face trial for alleged fraud thereby rejecting his appeal.

Metuh is standing trial for allegedly diverting N400 million from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

The trial judge, Okon Abang, had in March 2016 ruled that Mr Metuh and his company, Destra Investment, had a case to answer in the seven-count charge of fraud brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in May 2016, after which Metuh took the case to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in its ruling on Friday, February 9 gave the same reasons given by the Court of Appeal for refusing Mr Metuh’s request.

The Court of Appeal had said Metuh and his company failed to first obtain the leave of either the trial court or the appellate court before filing a notice of appeal as required by the Constitution.

The Appeal Court then held that the appellants, having failed in that regard, their appeals were incompetent and the court lacked jurisdiction to hear them.

Metuh faced a similar setback on Friday as the Justice Dattijo Mohammed-led five-man panel of the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal on Friday.

The apex court held that as much as the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to hear the appeals, the Supreme Court too could not entertain the appeal arising from the incompetent appeals before the court below.